Russian side wants crew members from arrested trawler to be examined by independent doctor

Sailors’ passports were confiscated after the trawler’s arrest. Among those detained are three women

RABAT, January 07, 21:34 /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian side wants to have members of the crew of the Russian fishing trawler Oleg Naidenov, who were injured during the arrested by the Senegalese military on Sunday, to be examined by a doctor it trusts, Alexander Biryukov, a representative of the Russian fisheries agency in Senegal, told Itar-Tass over the phone on Tuesday.

According to Biryukov, the ship’s barmaid had a suspected fracture of an arm bone, which “turned out to be a bruise.” “The captain was hit in the back and is suffering from back pains,” he said.

“We are waiting for a permit to take the injured to a doctor in Dakar we trust,” Biryukov noted. “But the Senegalese side insists that these people be examined by a military doctor.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Yuri Parshev, executive director of Fenix, a company owning the trawler, told Itar-Tass that the Oleg Naidenov captain needed medical aid. He said the captain complained of kidney ache after the Senegalese military used force while seizing the trawler.

“The armed guards keep the watch on the vessel and a deck stage, sailors cannot even enter a quayside,” Parshev said. “The Senegalese military used force, the captain has bruises from handcuffs and possibly, a kidney prolapse. The trawler’s doctor gave him injections, while a barmaid may have a broken hand.”

The Oleg Naidenov suspected of illegal fishing within Senegalese waters was seized by the Senegalese military 46 miles of Guinea-Bissau on Saturday with 82 crew onboard, including 62 Russians and 20 citizens of Guinea-Bissau, and convoyed to the port of Dakar on Sunday.

The Oleg Naidenov is owned by private company Fenix, registered in Murmansk, the extreme northwest part of Russia. It is a big fishing boat of Moonzund type, 120 meters long, built in Germany in 1989.

The crew remains on board the vessel under control of the Senegalese law enforcers. Sailors’ passports were confiscated after the trawler’s arrest. Among those detained are three women.